THE CAYUGA CHIEF JACOB E. THOMAS: WALKING A N~RROW PATH BETWEEN TWO WORLDS Takeshi Kimura Faculty of Humanities Yamaguchi University 1677-1 Yoshida Yamaguchi-shi 753-8512 Japan Abstract I Resume The Cayuga Chief Jacob E. Thomas (1922-1998) of the Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, worked on teaching and preserving the oral Native languages and traditions ofthe Longhouse by employing modern technolo­ gies such as audio- and video recorders and computers. His primary concern was to transmit and document them as much as possible in the face of their possible loss. Especially, he emphasized teaching the lan­ guage and religious knowledge together. In this article, researched and written before his death, I discuss the way he taught his classes, examine the educational materials he produced, and assess their features. I also examine several reactions toward his efforts among Native people. De son vivant Jacob E. Thomas (1922-1998), chef des Cayugas de la Reserve des Six Nations, en Ontario, a travaille a I'enseignement et a la preservation des langues parlees autochtones et des traditions du Long­ house. Pour ce faire, il a eu recours aux techniques d'enregistrement audio et video ainsi qu'a I'informatique. Devant Ie declin possible des langues et des traditions autochtones, son but principal a ete de les enregistrer et de les classifier pour les rendre accessible a tous. II a particulierement mis I'accent sur la necessite d'enseigner conjointement la langue et la religion. Dans cet article, dont la recherche et la redaction ont ete accomplies avant la mort de Thomas, j'examine son enseignement en ciasse de meme que Ie materiel pedagogique qu'il a cree et en evalue les caracteristiques. J'analyse en outre plusieurs reactions, chez les autochtones, Quant a son oeuvre de pedagogue et de chercheur. The Canadian Journal ofNative Studies XVIII, 2(1998):313-333. 314 Takeshi Kimura Introduction In this paper, I attempt to describe and understand the efforts of the Cayuga Chief of the Iroquois Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Jacob E. Thomas, to teach and preserve the languages and traditions of the Long­ house. I approached this topic by interviewing both him and friends, associates and colleagues of his, and by participating as a student in his class and observing his class as an outside scholar. VVhen I first visited him in early 1994, my main purpose was to leam mythic narratives and study the Onondaga language with his help. After visiting him several times, I realized that he and his wife had long been working on teaching and preserving the languages and traditions of the Longhouse. As I became familiar with his efforts, it became clearto me that his work was very serious, sincere and important. I visited him at his school called The Jake Thomas Learning Centre, located in Wilsonvile near Brantford, Ontario, off the Six Nations Reserve, several times from the fall of 1995 to the spring of 1996. I participated in one of his classes entitled "The Cycle of Ceremony" in the winter of 1996, and interviewed some ofthe other class attendees. In addition, I interviewed Thomas and his wife Yvonne, and many oftheir friends and collaborators, approximately twelve people in all. Thomas is eamestly engaged in teach­ ing and preserving the languages and traditions for both Native people (especially Native youths) and for non-Native people who are concerned with his work, because he sees the gradual disappearance, and the possible total loss ofthese languages and traditions. Today, the gradual disappearance of languages has drawn attention from various segments of society. For example David Crystal addressed the world-wide trend ofthe disappearance of minority languages. Referring to the situation of the Native languages of North America, he writes that There are 200 North American Indian languages, but only about 50 have more than 1,000 speakers, and only a handful have more than 50,000 (1997:43). With respect to Canadian Natives, Michael K. Foster, who did a survey of Native languages in Canada, writes that In the late twentieth century, the majority of Native people, particularty younger persons, did not speak an aboriginal lan­ guage (1984) and that only those languages with speakers of more than five thousand have "excellent chances of survival in the foreseeable future. ,,2 There are only three languages in this category, namely, Cree, Ojibwa and Inuktitut. As to the approximate number, of speakers of the Northern Iroquoian The Cayuga ChiefJacob E. Thomas 315 language in Canada, Foster gives 730, citing data from the 1991 Canadian Census, though he cautions us by noting The figure for lroquoian speakers... is too low, since other sources indicate between 1000-2000 speakers in Canada for Mohawk alone (Ibid.) If the Northern lroquoian language speakers in the USA are included, estimates ofthe numbers of Native speakers of lroquoian languages in the late 1970s in both Canada and the USA yield the following breakdown; Mohawk (3,000), Oneida (250), Onondaga (100-150), Cayuga (370), Seneca (425), and Tuscarora (47) (Foster, 1997). In terms of language survival, this is a grave situation for Native societies. Many have refused to remain passively at the mercy of this historical trend and have started to use modern western technologies such as writing, audio recorders, and video recorders to preserve and document their traditionally oral languages. For example, the Hocak (Winnebago) in Wis­ consin developed interactive multimedia computer programs for schoolchil­ dren to allow them to gain familiarity with their Native language (Crystal, 1997:43). One ofthe Native leaders who work on preserving their languages is Jacob E. Thomas, who is a condoled Chief of the Hode'nosaunee (the Iroquois Confederacy), whose personal name is Hatahats?ikr~htha? (which means 'he makes the clouds descend'). To promote his vision, he established The Jake Thomas Learning Centre in 1993, where he has taught and supervised classes on Iroquois languages and traditions, and created language texts and tapes? He walks a narrow path between two worlds, the oral tradition of his own society and the technology of the dominant society. His efforts deserve attention not only from his own people but also from non-Native people, especially, those who study the histories and cultures of Native North America. In this paper, I will report on and discuss Thomas' efforts to teach and preserve Native languages and traditions, focusing especially on the atten­ tion he has given to religious and mythic traditions. He sees that language acquisition should go hand in hand with the learning of traditional knowl­ edge, especially religious knowledge. While enduring the public intrusion of the technology and economy of the dominant society that contributes to undermining Native traditions, Thomas has found it useful and sometime imperative to draw on modern technology to protect and preserve his Native language and traditions. In this discussion, I will first present short biographies of Thomas and his wife, and then give a summary ofthe history and social background of the Six Nations Reserve. After examining the historical situation, I will look at some aspects of his efforts to create both texts and audio tapes and I will 316 Takeshi Kimura then analyze their contents in order to specify features of his educational materials, with special emphasis on religious traditions. Lastly, because Thomas aims at educating Native people, I will discuss several reactions from other Native people and the difficulties he faces. Jacob E. Thomas and his Wife Yvonne Jacob Ezra Thomas was born the youngest of seven children to Elizabeth Sky, a Cayuga of the Sandpiper clan, and David Thomas, an Onondaga, on the Six Nations Reserve in 1922.4 As clan affiliation in the Longhouse society was matrilineal, Thomas belonged to his mother's clan. From his parents and grandparents, he learned the Onondaga, Cayuga and Mohawk languages. For the most part he acquired his knowledge of traditions from his family, especially his father and grandfather. His father and his maternal grandfather were prominent ritualists in their day, and Thomas himself attended the Onondaga Longhouse where his father was as a ritualist. He was nurtured in the Longhouse since he was a young child, and it was there that he learned ritual songs and addresses, and probably mythic narratives. He was appointed as a "faithkeeper" in the early 1940s, and made a career as a ritual speaker. He was also inducted into several Iroquoian medicine societies, such as the Bear Society, the Little Water Society, the Dark Dance Society, the Otter Society and the Eagle Dance Society.5 He was elevated as a hereditary Chiefofthe Iroquois Confederacy and succeeded to the Cayuga title Teyohowe·tho.? in 1973. Thomas went to a grammar school, but did not attend high school.6 He had various jobs when he was younger, but his innate nature was that of a teacher. In the late 1960s and 1970s, he worked as an instructor of culture and languages at such schools as the North American Indian Travelling College in the Akwesasne Reserve and the Woodland Culture Centre near Brandford. He received a certificate as a language teacher and in Native education from Trent University, where he joined the faculty in the Depart­ ment of Native Studies. He taught courses on Native American cultures from 1976 until 1991 , while collaborating with such noted American scholars as William N. Fenton, Denis Foley, Francis Jennings, Mary Druke, Anne­ marie Shimony, Hanni Woodbury and Michael K. Foster. Thomas's wife Yvonne was born in 1944, a member of the Seneca of the Snipe clan'? and has been instrumental in Thomas's efforts. She works as director of The Jake Thomas Learning Centre, and takes care of administering, organizing, financing, and developing the programs.